Bithumb is pressing ahead with plans to renew CEO Lee Jae-won’s term despite a string of controversies, including an erroneous bitcoin distribution incident last month, industry officials said Sunday. The country’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange was already hit with heavy sanctions by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission, including a six-month partial suspension of operations and a 36.8 billion won ($24 million) fine for breaches of anti-money laundering rules. The measures also included a reprimand warning for the CEO and a six-month suspension for the reporting officer. In addition to these penalties, Bithumb is still awaiting the outcome of an inspection into its order book sharing with an overseas platform. Meanwhile, a separate probe by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) into the erroneous bitcoin payout case is nearing completion, raising the prospect of further sanctions and intensifying scrutiny over management. According to industry sources, Bithumb will convene its regular shareholders’ meeting on March 31, where a pr